Blas Villate

Blas Diego de Villate y de la Hera (3 February 1824-8 January 1882) was Captain-General of Spanish Cuba from September to December 1867 (succeeding Joaquin del Manzano and preceding Francisco Lersundi Hormaechea), from November 1870 to July 1872 (succeeding Antonio Caballero y Fernandez de Rodas and preceding Francisco de Ceballos y Vargas), and from June 1875 to January 1876 (succeeding Buenaventura Carbo and preceding Joaquin Jovellar y Soler).

Biography
Blas Villate was born in Sestao, Spain in 1824, and he served under Leopoldo O'Donnell during his campaigns in Morocco from 1859 to 1860. For his heroism, he was assigned to serve as the new Captain-General of Spanish Cuba, first as interim governor in 1867, and then as the official governor from 1870 to 1872 and from 1875 to 1876. He had to balance the reality of the Ten Years' War with the Spanish government's demands for a strong hand against the rebels, and he was replaced by Francisco Lersundi Hormaechea in 1867 after his violent policies against the Cuban civilian population failed to turn the tide in the war. In 1874, he supported the Bourbon restoration in Spain, and he was then sent back to Cuba, resigning in 1876. He was appointed Captain-General of New Castile in 1881, and he died in 1882.